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12 jun 2003 |
Team
Bentleys two Speed 8 prototypes will start this weekends Le Mans 24-hour
race from the front row of the grid. The number 7 cars provisional pole
time of 3min 32.8sec, set by Tom Kristensen yesterday evening, never looked
in danger while the number 8 Bentley improved its time to 3min 35.1sec
with Johnny Herbert at the wheel. |
Once
again both cars ran without serious problems, the only minor incident
being when Tom Kristensen was forced to spin his Speed 8 to avoid a slower
competitor. No significant damage was sustained. Though both cars did
attempt fast laps, the focus of the evening was to perfect the race set
up of both cars, not improving on what were already the fastest times.
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Tom
commented, Its great to get pole position at Le Mans for Bentley. Ive
tried a few times in the past and been fastest on the first day only to
be beaten on the second, in the last two years by Dindo. So this year
I insisted he was in the same car as me! I could have gone faster today,
but traffic forced me to abort my lap in the last sector. Even so, the
cars performance and the speed of my team-mates gives me confidence for
the race. I must also thank Michelin for some excellent tyres. The qualifiers
I used are good for two laps which gives you a second chance if you hit
bad traffic. |
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